Abandoned repository possibly excavated by “black archaeologists” in search of more expensive burials

However, it’s not just from that junk that those areas need to be protected: illegal treasure hunters are rampant, digging with metal detectors for archaeological finds or other antiquities. The old cemetery in the Širvintos district, which became a garbage dump, was destroyed, fragments of human remains were carved on the surface.

The condition of the old cemetery is poor

The archaeologist dr. Gediminas Petrauskas, when observing the excavated fragments of the remains, the mountains of garbage captured in the photos of the photographer and journalist Vidmantas Balkūnas, considered that the condition of the deposit in the register of cultural values ​​(municipality of Širvintos district, elder of Zibalai, Kiemeliai village) was extremely poor.

“The place has legal protection. Of course, its appearance and condition are not what it should be,” he said.

Digging marks are visible in the field. Could black archaeologists have worked on this? “There are many different metal detectives, there are thousands of them. However, experienced prospectors are reluctant to enter protected areas,” he said, adding that a malicious figure could have found a job here or someone simply did it for stupidity without understand what you were doing.

This time, the messy gravel pit could have served as well: a rare black “archaeologist” would land in the dumpster, there would be too many false signals from the metal detector.

According to G. Petrauskas, Head of the Department of Archeology of the National Museum of Lithuania (LNM), it is not possible to physically protect similar protected areas. “You will not have a policeman everywhere, but a marker indicating that it is a protected place would be better served here,” G. Petrauskas was looking for solutions.

He realized that this particular place has been demolished for a long time: the first data on the gravel pit was recorded in 1907-1909. “By the way, that’s when the archaeological values ​​came to light,” said the archaeologist.

However, the archaeological excavations carried out in this area were not extensive, they took place in 1938. “Eleven skeletons are reported to have been found. And there were not many findings, however
I couldn’t strictly say that they are specifically from this place, most likely from around, more typical of burial mounds. The place is protected as in X-XIII c. cemetery, but according to the findings found during the excavation, I got the impression that it is actually a 17-18 century. old cemetery ”, explained the expert.

Today we see the bones of people sticking out of the ground. “Yes, there is definitely a funeral home there. As I mentioned, in later times it is an old tomb, ”confirmed G. Petrauskas.

There are many archaeological sites in the country, so for objective reasons they are explored or not. According to G. Petrauskas, research is carried out to discover what we do not know by going deeper into one of the topics.

“Most heritage rescue or protection work is carried out; it is clarified whether there are valuable properties,” G. Petrauksas presented the details of the archaeological investigation.

According to the scientist, the research carried out in 1938 was as follows: the objective was to find out whether it was a surviving cultural monument or not. It was visited several more times in later times, but no investigation was conducted.

Contaminated, dug, anywhere and anything

When asked what steps should be taken today, how to properly repair the ancient tomb, how to deal with the fragments of the remains, the archaeologist said that the most important thing now is to remove the landfill, which arose because of the gravel pits, by the concern of the municipality or the local elder.

“Tidying up the environment is all I would suggest. Another good marker would be to keep the place safe. I would see no point in the investigation. We see that this is an old grave: bones betray. For those who need to dismantle them unnecessarily, that this place is at peace, “said G. Petrauskas, adding that the evidence that it is an archaeological or historical value is obvious. Therefore, the environment must be orderly, treated with respect.

However, no matter how many lessons we receive, according to the archaeologist, we still do not have enough, we still do not learn. “We must respect the eternal resting places of our ancestors, just as we must respect the current cemetery,” he said.

Is this treatment of cultural monuments a lack of respect for history or simply a rejection? “It just came to our attention then.” People who dumped trash dug gravel, didn’t even realize it was a historical cultural asset. An ordinary person does not notice or know anything about pieces of bone ”, G. Petrauksas is convinced.

A big problem, he said, is the mentality of the compatriots. Contaminated, excavated, anywhere and anything. By destroying those places, we are damaging ourselves: removing history, destroying roots. “In general, cultural values ​​are marked, but not all. However, those who have legal protection are marked. Why there is no marker here is another question, “said the archaeologist.

According to him, the old cemetery in the Širvintos district should not be studied. “We see clear evidence. The investigation is generally conducted for clarification purposes: to determine if it is really a cultural asset in case of legal disputes. In this case, apart from the gravel pit and the dump, this place does not cause any major problems for nobody, “he said.

Black archaeologists are looking for relics to sell on the black market. And what would interest scientists? “Unless there are findings that raise many questions, they change something. In one particular location, many of the dead were buried without burials, as the custom later disappeared. Yes, it falls in the archaeological period, it has value, but basically it is a place of the dead. It should not be touched unnecessarily. And modern cemeteries are not excavated until they are needed. For example, in the case of looking for the remains of partisans, there was a serious reason for that, ”said G. Petrauskas, one of the LNM archaeologists who excavated Mount Gediminas in 1863. The remains of the uprising heroes.

Illegal miners don’t understand the value of the findings.

It is interesting to know what could be buried in the old cemetery. G. Petrauskas assumed that the neighboring village or hamlet community was probably buried here, a late historical period.

“Findings were found in the area, from burial mounds, but the surface was eventually destroyed by plowing the land. Apparently, these are two different archaeological monuments that were side by side: we can see the signs of the ancient tomb from the bones , the dead in the cemetery are buried and burned. Find and bones of two different monuments that were in one area. They are separated by half a thousand years, “explained the expert.

Could the excavators have discovered valuable finds here? According to G. Petrauskas, there are several groups of seekers of values: some “black archaeologists” are malicious and others are amateurs. “Creating the conditions for legal action would change his behavior and gain more knowledge. Now he is often hurt by inexperience, ignorance. It is doubtful whether he could have found anything of value. Yes, something else could have been discovered from the cemetery.” admitted the interlocutor.

Unfortunately, illegal search engines often don’t understand the value of the finds – they throw themselves into the junk a lot, without even knowing what they are really worth. “This is a negative aspect: the discoveries discovered by an inexperienced walker are taken out of context, they are not recognized, they are discarded, they are not evaluated,” said G. Petrauskas about the losses.

Richard Dediala, chief specialist of the Control Department of the Department of Cultural Heritage (CRD), told Delfi that the service inspectors would verify the fact. However, it is provisionally estimated that the ancient tomb has been long abandoned, damaged for many years.

According to preliminary assumptions, the repository is registered and has no valuable properties. “It is an unclear object in itself, so I cannot say for sure, it will need to be inspected,” Dediala said.

He recognized that it is simply not possible to mark all objects of cultural heritage, but this information is publicly available, published in the register of cultural heritage. “There is a bigger problem with vacant lands, they must be supervised by the municipality. The regulation states that if there are depressions, they must be leveled, if the trees are cut without removing the roots. The same applies to burial mounds: initial protection, the ground cannot move, ”said the interlocutor.

And in this case, the garbage must be collected and the ground level. Unfortunately, you will no longer encounter damage.

Aušrinė Miliukaitė-Janovskienė, adviser to the mayor of the municipality of Širvintos district, said that the municipality specialists who had visited the site had recorded that several gravel pits had recently been dug.

However, the excavations are superficial. The bones, as you said, are not visible. One can only guess if this is the work of “black archaeologists”. The territory is fenced, the police were contacted about the incident, “said A. Miliukaitė-Janovskienė.

He also regretted that the country’s residents are bringing trash to more remote places and throwing it in the trash. The elder’s elder will take care of your arrangement.

Treasure hunting as a leisure activity.

There have been illegal miners all along, this process is impossible to control. “It didn’t work, they always were, we don’t have the strength to catch everyone.” Fortunately, some of them advertise on social media, others – friendly metal detectors, bring the findings to the department, ”said R. Dediala.

There are people around the world who walk with metal detectors through heritage sites. But it is one more niche, the black market. “Given the number of burial mounds excavated, the number of” black archaeologists “is not a mass phenomenon,” he said.

However, he also saw a new trend: After buying inexpensive metal detectors, people do a treasure hunt for entertainment, leisure entertainment. They also generally don’t have the experience to evaluate what they discover. “The most terrifying thing is here, there is a serious approach to archeology and heritage, as shown by the large number of groups on Facebook. It is good to publish on social networks, but if not …”, R. Dediala was in charge of preserve the findings.

The findings must be included in the CRD, the value must be determined by the Commission for the Evaluation of Movable Cultural Property. “But others fear being punished, so they rarely hand over discovered antiquities. This is a misconception. But there are also those who present everything they discover, including seals,” he emphasized.

According to the CRD press release, people who are fascinated by such activities should keep in mind that the metal detector can not only be used in cultural heritage sites and their protection zones, but also for antiquities, archeology and other findings listed in the Law of Protection of Movable Cultural Property (CCCTB). .

According to Vidmantas Bezar, Director of the CRD, according to the information available to the institution and the time required by the department’s specialists to detect violations and investigate administrative crimes, it is obvious that there is an urgent need to change the regulation of such searches, both strengthening “ illegal ” liability as establishing clear and understandable procedures. .

Asta Krogertienė, a specialist with the Communication Branch of the Vilna County Chief Police Commissariat, confirmed that a fixed report on this case is known. The investigator will become familiar with the material, contact the CRD specialist; so far it has not provided more specific information. He warned that similar crimes are subject to criminal liability.

A. Krogertienė stated that no destruction of heritage has so far been observed in Vilnius County. During the past decade, such cases have not occurred in the Širvintos and Ukmergė districts. However, according to the representative, the CRD should intensify its monitoring.

The CRD website draws the attention of “black archaeologists” and highlights a number of cases of usurpation of cultural values. Heritage conservationists tracked down and discovered a Vilnius district resident who had been selling illegal archaeological finds and antiquities on eBay’s online shopping site for many years.

The investigation revealed that the citizen had been collecting historical objects for approximately 35 years, only a few had acquired them legally (they had documents proving the purchase abroad). He found some objects, as he admitted, in 1980-1990 with a metal digger.

These days, officers from the Raseiniai District Police Station, verifying the information that had come to them about the illegal removal of firearms, went to the neighboring district, Kelmė, to verify it. Among the prohibited items found was a powerful aviation machine gun, the Nudelman-Richter, which surprised officers and even deminers from the Aras counterterrorism operations team, which they had never encountered before.

In the man’s department, officers found a coil from a metal detector, which attests that the occupation of a “black archaeologist” is not unknown to Kelmiškis. Many different ancient coins, machine gun belts and two rounds of ammunition were also found, and tank tracks were found in the basement, Šiauliai County Police reported.

Specialists from the CRD control department provided an official response regarding the old cemetery in Širvintos:

The Vilnius branch asked the Širvintos district municipality administration to supervise this object.

It should be noted that this registered object (not protected by the state) does not have an exact name (Senkapio with a ruined deposit of people and horses in the 10th and 13th centuries (unique code in the Register of Cultural Heritage 4237)) or a plan of Valuable features and limits specified.

During the inspection, it was established that the archaeological heritage object is crossed by a road, two excavations have been excavated on its right side (no excavation has been recorded near the excavated soil).

The repository is located on free state land, which is administered by the National Land Service, which, according to its functions, cannot administer said objects.

The plot for this heritage site is not formed, so there is no administrator to supervise that site. It is not possible to compel the administration of the municipality of Širvintos district to carry out maintenance work, which can supervise such objects only voluntarily from the available funds.

In addition, typical boards mark state-protected objects (which have the status of a “state-protected”, rather than “registered”) object of immovable cultural heritage.

It must be recognized that there are many of these objects and the attempt to identify the authors is a long and complex process, since the repository has been damaged in a particular case.